This application is an application for a patent which is also disclosed in Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/028,338, filed on Oct. 11, 1996, by the same inventors, namely Yousef Alkhatib, Jack H. Riedel, and Jerome J. Rubatt, and entitled "SHOT POUCH," the benefit of the filing date of which is hereby claimed.
In recent years, for environmental reasons, there has been a serious effort in the small arms ammunition industry, to provide shotshells which will utilize shot comprised of other than lead. Lead has been the usual metal from which shot has heretofore been produced, because of its weight and malleability. Lead, however, is toxic and the death of large numbers of waterfowl has been attributed to the ingestion of lead pellets by the authorities concerned about such problems.
Because of the above toxicity problems, much pressure has been brought to bear for providing shot which are nontoxic. Weight of the material from which the shot is made is important, because of the need for a heavy impact in order to minimize the number of wounded, but not harvested, waterfowl. As a consequence, attention has in recent years been directed to the use of tungsten or steel from which to produce such shot, since each of them is quite heavy and non-toxic.
Steel has some drawbacks, in that it is extremely hard and, consequently, tends to pierce the shot pouch (cup) and provide consequent inadequate ballistic qualities. Tungsten is even harder as compared to lead. A shot cup is generally used to confine such shot, but experience shows that they tend to pierce the sidewalls of the cup and damage the gun barrel bore. In view thereof, much of the steel shot is being annealed to reduce the damage to the bore of the barrel from such pouch-piercing shot. This annealing operation, of course, adds a step to the manufacturing process, which increases its cost and should, if possible, be eliminated. Since the annealed steel shot are softer, they more readily change shape under the high pressures to which they are subjected under firing, which in turn adversely affects pattern density, because the flattened surfaces, resulting from such changes in shape, cause the shot to reduce speed and tumble, or otherwise suffer undesirable ballistics.
Tungsten shot are 94% as heavy as lead shot having a 3% antimony content and considerably heavier than steel and, therefore, induce greater impact than steel striking the target. Since tungsten is heavier than steel, it requires a lesser volume to contain a tungsten charge than a steel charge having an equal weight.
From the above, it can be seen that there still is a definite need for a shot charge which is nontoxic, has adequate weight, and will not damage the bore of the shotgun barrel. Our invention is directed toward providing such a charge, to enable the shooter to utilize the harder shot, such as those made of tungsten and steel, without annealing same and without piercing the shot cup, with consequent borescoring disadvantages. We accomplish this goal through the use of a uniquely designed shot pouch, which protects the bore of the gun barrel and thereby enables the shooter to utilize non-annealed steel and/or tungsten shot, without serious damage to the bore surface of the barrel of the shotgun.
Shot cups (pouches) have been used for many years and have many variations in design to accomplish a variety of purposes. One of the most commonly used designs is shown in FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,885, in which a tubular cup, having a continuous tubular wall structure, is shown. Such cups frequently have spaced longitudinal slits in the sidewalls, which are provided for use with the relatively soft lead shot. Such slitted sidewalls are intended to facilitate separation of the shot cup from the shot pellets, upon firing of the shotshell. Such slits are circumferentially spaced and extend radially through the tubular sidewall. It is believed, however, that the shot cup having the continuous tubular wall structure, such as is shown in the above patent, is the closest prior art.